Newton's Laws
Question:
Explain how Newton's laws are shown in Angry Birds. Show two examples of each law in the game with an explanation of how it shows the law.
Answer:
FIRST LAW: Newton's first fundamental law states that an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion, until acted upon by an unbalanced force (when two forces acting on an object are not equal in magnitude).
SECOND LAW: Newton's second law states that the force acting on an object is equal to the object's mass times the object's acceleration (F = ma).
THIRD LAW: Newton's third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
- The x-component of velocity of the bird remains constant after leaving the slingshot, until the bird hits an object or the ground. This is because there are no horizontal forces acting on the bird (there is no air resistance, as we've already proved here).
- The y–component of velocity changes because it is influenced by the force of gravity.
SECOND LAW: Newton's second law states that the force acting on an object is equal to the object's mass times the object's acceleration (F = ma).
- The force applied by the slingshot accelerates the bird from rest to a certain velocity depending on that bird's mass.
- The force exerted on the structure equals the bird's mass multiplied by its deceleration, or negative acceleration.
THIRD LAW: Newton's third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
- When a bird hits a structure, the bird will transfer some of it's momentum (mass times velocity) to that structure, depending on the angle of impact. The rest of the conserved energy will remain with the bird. This principle is also called conservation of momentum.